Radio's Jon Matthews pleads guilty to indecency

Published 5:30 am, Monday, June 21, 2004

RICHMOND -- Former radio talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty today to a charge of indecency with a child in a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Matthews, 59, who resigned from his position at KSEV-AM 700 last year, was to go to trial June 28 but decided to accept the agreement after rejecting it last week, said Fort Bend County District Attorney John Healey.

In a pre-trial hearing this morning in the court of state District Judge Brady Elliott, Matthews' attorney, Stephen Doggett, said he wanted to speak with prosecutors about reconsidering the offer.

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Matthews left the courtroom with his attorney and declined to comment.

The judge deferred the official finding of guilt and the sentencing until Aug. 2.

According to court documents, Matthews is to be placed on deferred adjudication for seven years.

Criminal defendants who successfully complete the terms of deferred adjudication avoid final conviction, but the fact that they were charged remains a part of their record.

The arrangement calls for Matthews to register as a sex offender, perform community service and move from his Sugar Land house.

Prosecutors said Matthews can no longer reside at the house on Rolling Mill because it is too close to Sugar Land Middle School. State law prohibits sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school.

He was indicted Nov. 11 on a charge alleging that he had exposed himself to an 11-year-old girl at his home on Oct. 9. He was arrested two days later and released on $10,000 bail.

The conservative talk show host resigned from his position at KSEV-AM 700, where he had a program on weekday mornings, and also stopped writing a column for the weekly Fort Bend Star.

Sugar Land police began their investigation in October after the girl's parents contacted them through an intermediary.

Matthews was indicted one day after he spent about 90 minutes in the grand jury room at the Fort Bend County Courthouse.

The charge is a third-degree felony with a range of punishment from two to 10 years in prison and a fine not exceeding $10,000.

Before his resignation, Matthews had been on the air on Houston radio stations since at least the mid-1980's, working at KSRR-FM and KPRC-AM before moving to KSEV-AM in March 2001.

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